Down under, visiting The Olav Mine

Roros Travel Blog

Saturday arrived and the sun was shining from a blue sky.It`s a perfect day to walk around in Røros small roads with the old wooden houses.

You can walk around for hours just looking at the houses, visiting some of the small handcraft shops or having a glass of beer in the sun.

After a few hour of shopping we decided to visit The Olav Mine.We joined an hour long guided tour of The Olav Mine.

This is a walking tour 50m below the surface and 500m into the mine to “Bergmannshallen”, the Miner’s Hall.

Here you will experience the 300 years history of the local mining.

Me and my cousine Anne Lise

I have to advice you to have warm clothes on because the temperature in the mine is about 4 degrees.

Some years ago I visited The Olav Mine together with my band and we had a concert in the Miner’s Hall, quite a special experience.

Only participants in a guided tour are permitted to enter the underground part of the mine.

The Olav Mine is a relatively new attraction at Røros.The mine proper was official opened for public in May 1979.

The idea of turning the mine into a museum was born during “The Miners Day” in June 1976.

The production had been terminated some years earlier and the mining company was considering stopping pumping and letting the mine be flooded to avoid further expenses.

Our guide

Approximately 3 mills. Norwegian Kroner (375000 Euro) have been invested to restore the mine to it`s present condition.

The mining activities in Røros started in 1644.The mine had a fire in the early 1700 when among other things the pumping plant was destroyed.

During the years of mining there have been miserable conditions for the miners.In 1713 the mine manager considered to stop production, but operations continued till 1717.

The company allowed the miners to search for ore on their own accord and played then 1 “riksdaler” (4 Norwegian kroner) per barrel of ore.

In 1868 there was decided to go deeper and there was need for a new set of pump to pump out the water.It took two years to empty the mine, but from 1870 a considerable amount of production took place.

In 1887 and 1888 the production was up to 500 tons of copper.

In 1890 operations had to be stopped again as the ore was to be cut off by clay veins of which there are so many in this area.The ore was rediscovered by means of an incline shaft 100m long.

Crownprince Olav’s Mine

The ore was discovered in 1935 and characterised as the most promising for a long time for the company’s history.

The following year a rich ore vein with a thickness of 1 meter was discovered by means of diamond drilling.In 1937 the work on a 30 meter deep shaft was started.

The same year the tunnel between Nyberget and New Sunshine Mine was cleared up.

A powder main from another mine, Storwarz was build as well as a hoist room and a shaft tower.Once more Nyberget Mine had to be emptied of water, a work that continued for about a year.

In July 1937 Crownprince Olav and Crownprincess Märtha visited the mining area, and the mill was renamed Kronprins Olav’s Mine after His Royal Highness.The preparation was completed in 1941.

In 1942 an aerial cableway was built for transportation of ore from mine to the ore dressing plant at Storwartz.Here the ore from mine was crushed and a copper concentrate produced by means of aflotation process.The concentrate was sent by another cableway to the smelting works at Røros.

The mine was in operation until 1972.In all, mine has delivered more than 1 mill tons of ore with an average copper content of 1, 39% which means between 11000 and 12000 tons of pure copper.

No fatal accident has taken place in The Olav Mine, but three miners have been seriously wounded.

Copper in contact with water become bluegreen

All tree, however, recovered after to continue their work until mining operations stopped in 1972.

After 1972 a group of people have been working to make The Olav Mine to a museum.

The museum at the mine contains exhibits, a small souvenir shop, a cafe and the guided tour.

The guide who guided us was very competent and made the tour a fabulous experience for us.

After one hour in the mine and only 5 degrees it felt good to go out in the fresh air and let the sun warm you.